Op-ed:

April 15th...North Korea's last hurrah?

By: Diane Sori

 
"The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermonuclear war due to the evermore undisguised hostile actions of the United States and the South Korean puppet warmongers." So says Pyongyang.

So is North Korea planning a show of strength for April 15th, the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the nation (celebrated officially as "The Day of the Sun")...or is the latest round of saber rattling just more of the usual empty threats to get the sanctions lifted. Unfortunately, only time will tell but in preparing for the worst case scenario (a wise thing to do when dealing with an immature, power hungry, spoiled man-child) Japan deployed PAC-3 missile interceptors to protect Tokyo, and two US destroyers armed with missile-defense systems, along with two South Korean warships, are now in place off the Korean coast. 

Loving to hear himself squawk (sounds like someone else we know), Kim Jong-un vowed to wage a "merciless sacred retaliatory war" if provoked in any way by its enemies, meaning the US and South Korea, and is now ready to test fire a medium-range missile with the hopes of it someday being able to deliver a nuclear warhead.

NOT good...NOT good at all, because while North Korea has always issued warnings before previous long-range rocket launches, this time they're keeping everyone guessing about what they'll do and when they'll do it. 

And while the threatened test appears to be a NO-go, at least at this moment, we and our allies cannot let our guard down as this could be a ruse...a clever subterfuge to get the first blow in. Remember, Kim Jong-un has to do something to 'save face' as he's been publicly pushed into a corner with his threats against the US and the South, and as an untested new leader he cannot allow himself to be seen in the eyes of the world as weak or as backing down to his perceived enemies.

And in the ongoing war of words and threats against Seoul and Washington, Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, announced this past Monday that operations at the Kaesong Factory Complex would be suspended as he ordered it closed and recalled all 53,000 North Korean workers from the complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone...a complex that for the past decade had been run with cheap North Korean labor and South Korean capital and know-how...a complex that was the North's last major economic link with the South and a source of much needed hard currency, garnered from cross-border trade, including supplies entering Kaesong and finished products coming out, and which approached $2 billion annually in trade revenue. 

Now add into mix the recent statement from Pyongyang that "all foreign institutions, enterprises, and foreigners including tourists" in South Korea "take measures for shelter and evacuation" and you have more than the usual, eye rolling bloviations.

Even Russian President Vladimir Putin is worried as he expressed concern about the rising tensions between the two Korea's, and said conflict on the peninsula, "could cause greater devastation than the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986."
 
“I would make no secret about it, we are worried about the escalation on the Korean peninsula, because we are neighbors,” Putin said.
 
And even our muslim sympathizing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has admitted that North Korea has made major advancement in its nuclear capabilities. Saying that the speed with which North Korea is moving in enhancing their capabilities is cause for concern, and that North Korea is "skating very close to a dangerous line" means this time the North Korean threats are being taken seriously in DC...at least by some they are. 

"We have every capacity to deal with any action North Korea will take to protect this country and the interests of this country and our allies," Hagel said as the deteriorating Korean situation belies the critical necessity for strong US and allied defenses.

And while most South Koreans are NOT panicking, there are signs that they're growing tired of the North’s rhetoric and threats. In fact, new South Korean President Park Geun-hye gave the Ministry of Defense free reign in the event of any North Korean Korean provocations, and this action increases the probability that the current war of words will indeed turn into a real military action.

But the question in all this is where does Barack HUSSEIN Obama really stand on North Korea and what will he do if war does break out...smiling sweetly and saying one thing for media photo-ops is quite different than actual actions taken. Remember, Obama believes the world should eliminate all nuclear weapons, as he continues to eliminate our nuclear arsenal and works to strengthen the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, clearly ignoring the fact that he is out of touch with the reality of the growing number of nuclear weapons rogue nations are acquiring.

And here's something else to think about...is Western educated, English speaking, American culture loving Kim Jung-un really calling the shots in North Korea or is he just the puppet of yet another corrupt, all-controlling, all powerful military regime. Again only time will tell but unfortunately time is NOT something we or South Korea have a lot of right now as the longer the war of words goes on the longer North Korea will have to develop a true deliverable nuclear warhead, with our ally South Korea being its prime recipient and with us having 28,500 troops (Army: 19,755, Navy: 274, Air Force 8,815, Marines, 242) in harms way.

And an immature, power-hungry, man-child puppet with a history of hissy-fits has his finger on a nuclear button...NOT good...NOT good at all.

Op-ed: 
Stalemate or war...only time will tell 
By: Diane Sori
 

While Kim Jong-un continues his saber-rattling rhetoric, South Koreans are carrying on as if everything is normal even with the North having formally declared war on them...but they're doing so with one eye open.

And despite US pleas to China to help defuse the situation and get North Korea to calm down, North Korean state television again aired footage (to stir up the masses) of huge rallies against the US and South Korea, with protesters chanting anti-American slogans and carrying banners reading, "Let's destroy our mortal enemy, the United States."

Sounds just like Kim Jong-un's buddy the Iranian nut job Ahmadinejad doesn't it...

North Korea's threats of war have gone on for 40 years, and upping their threats by moving two intermediate-range missile launchers to its eastern coast...missiles with 'considerable range' according to Pyongyang...missiles with a possibility of being able to hit targets in the South or in Japan...could be just more saber-rattlings to mask a test or it could be a prelude to war. And with the North's top military honchos warning that it's been authorized to attack US and South Korea's defenses as well as authorizing a nuclear strike on the US using “smaller, lighter, and diversified nuclear weapons,” we're now forced to take these threats seriously because it's NOT wise to discount a desperate madman.

And with North Korea in serious economic straits, the realization that desperate madmen do things differently than the sane do takes on new meaning. Even White House spokesman Jay Carney said a missile launch would NOT be unexpected. "We would not be surprised to see them take such an action...we have seen them launch missiles in the past," Carney said. 

Now add into this that Pyongyang has told all foreign embassies that they could NOT guarantee the safety of their personnel after next Wednesday, and asked them if they needed help closing down and evacuating, the game has been upped a notch.

But NO foreign embassies have announced plans to evacuate by Wednesday or any day, for as like South Korea, these diplomats have heard the North's musings of war many times before. And the significance of why next Wednesday is uncertain, although it has been rumored that Wednesday is the date for the possible closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a facility inside the North where South Korean companies employ 53,000 people. 
 
And how has our military responded to all this...a missile defense system has been moved to Guam, nuclear-capable B2 stealth bombers have been flown over the Korean peninsula in a show of strength and camaraderie with our ally South Korea, and US warships have been deployed and will be stationed off the coast...all of which Pyongyang calls rehearsals for a northward invasion.
 
Like North Korea has anything we or Seoul want.

And all this is because of North Korea's outrage at the newest U(seless) N(ations) sanctions put in place as punishment for them having carried out a third nuclear test, and in response to the annual US/South Korean military exercises.

And what has the White House answer been to all this...the usual I would say as true to form of those in this administration who placate our enemies, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has put on hold a long-planned intercontinental ballistic missile test at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California that was scheduled for next week, claiming rising tensions with North Korea as the reason why. Hagel said he felt that performing any tests of that nature could be misconstrued by Pyongyang and lead to an escalation of the situation with North Korea, so he decided, with White House approval, to postpone the 'Minuteman 3' missile test until next month.

Well guess what...who cares or gives a damn what North Korea or its man-child leader think...this test was crucial to the defense of this country and this country comes first...at least it's supposed to...at least it used to.

That's before we had a president who lets a little piss-ant country like North Korea call the shots and allows them to hold us hostage as we wait and see if their man-child leader will follow through on his threats or just continue to bloviate on and on and on...